Covering Communal Violence: Some Norms And Lapses
Some norms of professional reporting
juxtaposed with instances of what we saw of media coverage from the day the
incident at Godhra occurred
Extracts from RTNDA codes
reprinted with permission from RTNDF website.
COVERING
COMMUNAL VIOLENCE: SOME NORMS AND LAPSES
Television is a powerful medium in
times of crisis, not a plaything to be experimented with. Have our television
channel newsrooms internalised codes of ethics and professional conduct? Some
of the coverage during the outbreak of communal violence in Gujarat indicated
that they have not done so enough. Do they think twice before going live with
breaking news? Do they apply filters?
The more communally sensitive
parts of the country become, the more we need to scrutinise the care and
balance with which the media reports and presents the news. Below the Hoot
presents some norms of professional reporting juxtaposed with instances of what
we saw of media coverage from the day the incidents at Godhra occurred.
Codes have been taken from the
following:
2000 Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) Code of Ethics
and Professional Conduct
All India Newspaper Editors` Conference: Code of Ethics for the Press in
Reporting and Commenting on Communal Incidents. Adopted in 1968
1. (a) Treat all subjects of news
coverage with respect and dignity, showing particular compassion to victims of
crime or tragedy. Exercise special care when children are involved in a story
and give children greater privacy protection than adults. (RTNDA)
1. (b)The greatest caution should be exercised in the selection and publication
of pictures, cartoons, poems, etc. so as to avoid arousing communal passions or
hatred. (AINEC)
1. (c)What we saw: Close up photographs shown of children with burns, a
terrified man begging to be spared his life, television footage shown of people
flinging burning torches into homes, of women gathering stones to attack
neighbours with, TV and print pictures of assets of victims burning, of
vehicles in which people were burnt alive, and photographs of people looting
shops and showrooms.
2.(a) Names of communities should not be mentioned nor the
terms "majority" and "minority" communities be ordinarily
used in the course of reports. (AINEC)
2.(b) What we saw: On the first day, Star TV and Zee News at least did
not identify those burned at Godhra as Hindus, and those doing the burning as
Muslims. Initial reports did not name the communities. But the newspaper
reports the next day made it clear who the victims were, and who the alleged